Hydrocycle



F. BRADY HYDROCYCLE July 17, 1923}.

I Filed Auz. 9. 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 3m FRAN/T @2402.

Patented July 17, 1923'.

UFRANK' BRADY, or DENVER, COLORADO.

ear 'fiIe d AugustQ, 1921. Serial no, 490,938.

To all whomitmay concern. v Be 1t known that I, FRANK BnAnLa citizen ofthe United States, residing at the'city and county of Denver and'Stateof Colorado, have invented cer tain new and useful Improvements inHydrocycles; and I do d clarethe following to bela' full, cleargandexact description. of'the invention such as will enable'othersskilled'inthe art to which it appertains to make and; use thesame,;reference being had to the accompanying drawings andto the'charactersof reference marked thereon, which: form a part of thisspecification. a j;

This invention relates to manually pro pelled watercraft of thetypeusuallyreferred to as hydrocycles and has reference moreparticularly to theoperating mechanism .by which the operator transmitspower to the propellingapparatus," v I am awarethat water. vehicles havebeen made which comprise a, pair of pontoons which are connect'edtogether inpar'allel re,- lation and equipped with a bicycleorbicycle-like apparatus by which the operator generates power byapplying his feet to pedals in the-usual'way, the power thusgenerated-beingtransmitted to a propeller of eithcrthe screw orpaddlewheel type.

the type-Of water vehicle referred'to above and to devise an operating.mechanism. that will be adaptedto be operated simultaneously by twopeople, one of whom perates to a water levelthan it would be in case thetwo operators were mounted tandem on elevated seats.

eral way I willjproceed to describe the same in detail by reference tothe accompanying drawings in. which- I Fig. 1 is a side elevation of my!hydrocycle.

Fig. 2 is a p an View ther fi It is the object of my invention toimprove of. the -type referred to in which thecenter of gravity is.brought closer to the Having thus described my device in agenw Fig. 3 isan elevation or view looking towards the rear.

Fig. 4 is a plan-view of the propelling mechanism'and Fig. 5 is a side wOf the propelling mechanism.

The sainereference characters refer to the same parts throughout theseveral views. My improved ihydrocycle comprises two pontoons 10 ofboat'or canoe shape. having (PAT NT OFF-ICE.

decksllto which are connected, at spaced intervals, cross bars 12 and 13which hold the pontoon in spaced parallel relation. Connectingthe rearends of pontoons l0beneath' the water surface is a bar 14 that serves asa bearingfor the propeller shaft 15. Pivotally secured to the'rearmostcross bar 12 by suitable means is a rudder lfiwhich is con trolled bythehandle bars 17 actingthrough steering post 18, rods 19 and bar 20, thelatter being non-rotatably connected to the rudder post 21. Secured toone of cross bars 12and one of cross'bars 13 is a, frame 22 comprisingtwo bars 23 and24, tothe top of which-is secured a suitable bicycle seator saddle 25,. Secured to bar, 13 and one of bars 12 is a frame 26 which'carries at its top a bearing 27 in which is j'o urnaleda pair of pedals28 having non-rotatably secured thereto asprocket wheel 29. "Therelationship betweenthe saddle 25 and pedals :28 is ;such that apersonseated on the saddle will be able to operate the pedals with'ease.The

saddle may, of course, be adjustable in the usual manner so as toaccommodate people of difierentsizes, Located in front of frame 22 is aseat 30 having aback 31 to which is secured a rearwardly extendingportion32 which forms a bearing for steering post 18, the latter beingprovided with a collar '83 to hold itin place. Seat 30 has a forwardlyextending portion 34 for the reception and protection of the" feet ofthe occupant. Se cured to the foremost ones of members, 12 and 13 is aframe 351:0 which is pivoted at 36 alever 37 the purpose Ofwhich willhereinafter appear. Lever 37 is provided with two handles 38 which'areto be grasped by the hands of the operator. I

Referring now more particularly to Figs. 4 and 5, it will benoted that aframe 39 supporting two bearings or pillow blocks 40 and 41 in theformer of which is pivotally mounted a shaft 42 carrying a gear wheel43. Gear wheel 43 has one spoke thereof provided with a pin 44 betweenwhich and pin 45 on the end of lever 37'is connected a pitman 46 bymeans of which the oscillatory motion of lever 37 is caused to rotatewheel 43.

Pivoted in bearing 41 is a shaft 47 to one end of which is secured asprocket wheel 48, which is in the same plane as sprocket wheel .29, andto the other end is connected a bevel gear 49 and a spur gear 50, thelatter meshing with gear 43. A sprocket chain 51 serves to transmitpower from wheel 29 to wheel 48 and to bevel gear 49. A pinion 52secured to the end of shaft 15 meshes with bevel gear 49 and transmitsthe power to propeller 53. i

The operation of my device is as follows: One of theoperators is seatedon saddle 25 with his hands grasping handle bars 17 and his feet onpedals 28. The other operator is seated in seat 30 with his feetrestingon the floor and his hands grasping handles 38. When the formeroperator rotates wheel 29 through pedals 28 he transmits motion towheels 48, 49, 50 and 43 through chain 51. When the operator 'thatoccupies seat 3O moves lever 37 about its pivot 36 he transmits motionand power to wheels 43, 50 and 49 through pitman 46. It is thus apparentthat the power exerted by both operators will be transmitted to bevelgear 49 and from there through pinion 52 and shaft 15 to propeller 53which will thus be acted upon by the combined power of both operators.

Since the pedals 28 can be rotated at a greater speed than the lever 37,I have provided the gears with such relationship that this isaccomplished. The lever 37 should preferably make one-half a cycle toeach complete revolution of the pedals 28 al; though the exact ratio isnot material and can be varied so as to suit the convenience of theoperator by merely changing the sprocket wheel 48 to the size desired. 7

From the above it will be seen that I have: provided a motiontransmitting means suit able for use on hydrocycles of the pontoon type,or any other type, that is simple in construction and adapted to beoperated by two people one of whom is seated on an ele vated seat anduses his feet to operatea pair of pedals and the other of whom iscomfortably seated nearer the water surface and uses his hands to move alever. By

the means outlined a comparatively great amount of power can be producedand transmitted to the propeller of the vehicle and great speed can thusbe attained with a minimum amount of exertion.

Although I have shown my mechanism applied to a pontoon type boatstructure it is evident that it can be applied to any type of floatingstructure as well as to land vehicles of various types.

I desire the foregoing description to be taken in an illustrative senseonly and not in a limiting one and I reserve the right to applymydev'ice to any use to which it may be adapted as well as to make suchchanges therein as may fall withinthe scope of the appended claim.

I desire to point out that this hydrocycle is made detachable in orderthat it may be readily disassembled for shipping and for transportingfrom place to place. lYhen' it is desired to" ship or transport thedevice the barsl2 and 13 together with cross bar 14 are detached fromthe pontoons and the mechanism may also be 'detached'from these bars andthe whole packedin a comparae tively small box. i i

If it should be desirable to operate the hydrocycle by one man only thepinion '50 may be'moved outwardly ,o'n's'haft 47 until it becomesdisengaged from gear wheel 43, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 4.The operator may then be "seated onsaddle 25 and operate the pidals 28without turning wheel 43 or operating the lever 37.

Having described my improved device and the best manner in which Icoiitemplate constri'icting, making and using the same, what I claim asmy invention or discovery is! A mechanical movement comprising a drivenshaft provided with a bevel pinion, means for drivingfsaid shaftcomprising a bevel gear cooperating with said pinion, a

gear shaft secured to said bevel gear, a 3

bearing in which, said shaft rotates, a sprocket wheel secured to saidshaft, a'pair of pedals rotatably mounted on an axissubstantiallyparallel to said gear shaft, a sprocket'wheel non-rotatably connected tosaid pedals, a sprocket chain connected to said sprocket wheels, a gearpinion connected to said gear shaft and longitudinally movable thereon,a gear wheel operatively connected with said pinion, a crank pin securedtosaid gear wheel, a lever pivotally mounted 'betweenits ends and apitman between one" end of said lever and the crank pin on said gear.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signa ture.

' FRANK BRADY I

